BUY AMERICAN CAVIAR ONLINE

Caviar is one of the world’s most popular hors d’oeuvre, and if you want to buy caviar online, you’ve come to the right place. We are Caviar Emporium, your home on the Web for the best American and imported caviar. Caviar Emporium prides itself on quality, delicious caviar harvested with sustainable practices at a reasonable price.

Whether you’re looking for the best quality Eurasian caviar with a traditional flavor or the distinctive taste of American caviars from sturgeon or Pacific salmon, we have what you’re looking for. Our fresh, tasteful products can be delivered to you in the convenience of your own home. Take a look around our site and familiarize yourself with the various varieties of luxury caviar we offer.

We also offer foie gras and other specialty foods and utensils to complement our caviar offerings. These include mother of pearls spoons, which are the traditional utensil for tasting caviar, glass caviar serving dishes, and blini pancakes.

History of Caviar – BUY AMERICAN CAVIAR ONLINE

Did you know that the English word “caviar” comes from Persian? The Persian word “khavyar” comes from the word for “egg,” and Persian civilization is thought to be responsible for first processing caviar with salt to make it palatable. One of the oldest written references to caviar comes from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, so we known that people have been enjoying caviar since at least the 4th century BCE.

Historically, caviar has been a favorite food of royals, including the Persian (Iranian) royals and the British and Russian royal families. Iran and Russia remain two of the world’s most productive countries for caviar. Caviar in Russia is still served on festive occasions such as holidays and at weddings.

Originally, the word caviar referred only to roe from fish of the Acipenseridae family, which includes the 27 different species of sturgeon. Sturgeon are one of the world’s oldest families of fish, thought to have existed as long as 245 million years ago. The bony plates along their backs give sturgeon an ancient, primitive look.

BUY AMERICAN CAVIAR ONLINE – The main types of caviar are:

• American Osetra: This type of caviar comes from the white sturgeon, native to the United States. Wild white sturgeon rarely produce food-quality eggs, which is why this type of caviar is almost always farmed. A good-quality American Osetra caviar is said to be comparable to Russian caviar.
• Beluga: Wild Beluga caviar is the rarest and most expensive caviar in the world, highly sought after for the size of the eggs. It comes from the world’s largest saltwater lake, the Caspian Sea. Beluga sturgeon must mature for 20 years before they produce eggs capable of being processed into caviar. True Beluga caviar exported from Russia has been illegal since 2005, but hybrids are available legally. Beluga caviar is so expensive it’s sometimes referred to as “Black Gold.”
• Kaluga Hybrid: The Kaluga sturgeon is similar to the Beluga, though slightly smaller, and native to Eurasian rivers rather than the saltwater Caspian Sea. Its caviar pearls are large, firm, and buttery. The hybrid variety is crossed with Acipenser Schrencki, also called the Japanese or Amur sturgeon. Kaluga hybrid caviar ranges in color from golden-brown to bronze.
• Ossetra: The Eurasian type of Osetra or Ossetra caviar is the world’s second most valuable caviar variety, second only to Beluga. Ossetra sturgeon can live to be up to 50 years old, and it’s said that the older the sturgeon, the richer the flavor of the caviar. Color is very important to the quality of Ossetra caviar. The lighter this caviar is, the more valuable it is, with the golden-yellow eggs being the most highly sought after. Acipenser gueldenstaedtii is the scientific name of the Ossetra sturgeon, and today the largest exporter of Ossetra caviar is actually Israel.
• Sevruga: This type of caviar comes from the so-called starry (or stellate) sturgeon, native to Asia. It reproduces more quickly than the Beluga and Ossetra sturgeons, making it a popular choice for its meat as well as caviar, considered the third most valuable of caviar types. Traditionally, Sevruga caviar is sold in red tins. It’s generally more flavorful and saltier than Ossetra and Beluga. A blend of Sevruga and Ossetra caviars is referred to as “pressed Sevruga.”
• Siberian Sturgeon: The wild Siberian sturgeon is in decline due to damming and other loss of habitat, so this type of caviar is generally farmed. It lives to be up to 60 years old and weighs up to about 65 kilograms. Siberian sturgeon produce dark gray caviar pearls that are said to be similar in taste to Ossetra caviar, with a buttery flavor.
• Sterlet: The sterlet is a small, Eurasian species of sturgeon. At one time, only Austrian, Iranian, and Russian royalty were allowed to enjoy sterlet caviar. Now nearly extinct, the sterlet sturgeon produces an extremely rare type of caviar that is also called Imperial Caviar. Attempts are being made to save this valuable sturgeon from extinction through aquaculture (sea farming).

Today, we use the word to mean a variety of fish roes. When you order caviar online with Caviar Emporium, you can choose from sturgeon, paddlefish, or Pacific salmon roe.

In the U.S.A., the BUY AMERICAN CAVIAR ONLINE industry started in 1873 with a German immigrant named Henry Schacht, who processed fish roe from the Delaware River with German salt and exported his product to Europe. Although we now think of caviar as a luxury food for special occasions, bar owners once gave out free caviar snacks to patrons in the hopes that the salty roe would encourage them to buy more drinks.

This was not a terrible idea; to this day, caviar is often served alongside vodka in Russia or Champagne in the U.S.A. Restaurants soon got the idea that caviar would make an elegant and tasteful starter to meals. However, by 1910 the American appetite for caviar had almost caused the North American sturgeon to go extinct. The U.S. domination of the caviar market began to decline, and Caspian Sea caviar production reached its modern form by 1925 and began to take over.

World Wildlife Fund for Nature estimates that between about 1980 and 2000, the wild sturgeon population declined 97% worldwide. Science, environmentalism, and commerce must work closely together to ensure the human race can co-exist with sturgeon and eat caviar well into the future.

Caviar is still eaten the way it was in ancient times, with a non-metallic spoon so that the taste of the metal doesn’t interfere with the flavor of the roe. Bone, mother of pearl, glass, tortoise shell, wood, and other natural materials have traditionally been used as caviar spoons and are still used to this day. The one metallic utensil considered acceptable in caviar etiquette is a spoon made of gold.

About American Caviar – BUY AMERICAN CAVIAR ONLINE

• American sturgeon is also called Hackleback or Shovelnose sturgeon. These fish are plentiful in the rivers of the Midwestern U.S.A. and can legally be wild-harvested for caviar. If you’re very serious about your environmentalism, you’ll be happy to know that American sturgeon and paddlefish caviar, both of which are farmed, are considered the most sustainable sources of caviar in the world. The dark roe of American sturgeon have a distinctively nutty/buttery flavor.
• Pacific salmon are well-known for their large, red eggs. Salmon caviar, known in Japanese cuisine as Ikura, are a popular ingredient in sushi, larger and juicier than flying fish roe (Tobiko).
• Paddlefish is a “cousin” to the sturgeon and one of the largest freshwater fish found in North America. Also called spoonbills, these fish produce eggs that range from light gray to dark gray to “Osetra brown.” Paddlefish caviar is famously smooth.
• American Osetra, producing from white sturgeon, is a popular California aquaculture product. Discerning food lovers who enjoy Caspian caviars yet worry about their sustainability are fond of American Osetra, which is often compared to Russian caviar. The flavor of American Osetra has been described as “heady” and “creamy.”

About Imported Caviar – BUY AMERICAN CAVIAR ONLINE

Overfishing has caused a decline in the wild beluga sturgeon population, however. Our Beluga caviar is farm-raised from a sustainable stock of Beluga sturgeon that does not contribute to overfishing. We produce a hybrid caviar that combines Beluga sturgeon with Acipenser schrenckii, the Japanese sturgeon, which further reduces the strain on the Caspian Beluga population while still producing an extremely high quality product.

We also import our Osetra and Siberian sturgeon caviars. Caspian Osetra is notoriously difficult to farm-raise, but our Siberian sturgeon is imported from farm-raised stocks and is completely sustainable.

About Farm-Raised Caviar

When you buy caviar online, you want to know that you’re not contributing to the overfishing that endangers the caviar fish species and, therefore, the hors d’oeuvre you love. Farm-raised caviar provides a delicious, high-quality product that can be sustained for years to come.

Many countries have adopted the aquaculture (sea-farming) method of producing caviar, bringing the price of good-quality caviar down quite a bit. Another advantage of farm-raised caviar fish is that the producer is able to control the quality of the product by controlling the conditions of the water. The U.S., France, Spain, and Uruguay are all leaders of the farm-raised caviar movement, with California at the forefront of the aquaculture trend in the U.S.

About Wild Caviar

Wild sturgeon populations in the Black and Caspian Seas as well as rivers and lakes in Europe and Asia have been declining due to overfishing, pollution, development that threatens wetlands, etc. This has led to bans on certain types of wild caviar extraction in Russia and other countries.

You can order caviar online from Russian stocks without fear of contributing to the extinction of sturgeon species. Our imported caviar is in full compliance with international law. We love caviar as much as you do, so we want to treat it responsibly. In the U.S., the only kind of caviar than can legally be harvested from wild fish is American sturgeon.

Caviar Recipes – BUY AMERICAN CAVIAR ONLINE

Caviar contains the vitamins and minerals that nourish the growing fish, and these vitamins and minerals are also essential for human health. Many immune system-boosting nutrients are found in caviar, including vitamins A, C, and E and zinc. Caviar is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, the “good fats.” Eaten in moderation, caviar can be part of a healthy diet.

Traditional serving suggestions for caviar include:

• As a spread on buttered toast points with minced onions
• As a spread on blini (Russian-style buckwheat pancakes), sometimes with sour cream or cream cheese
• As a spread on crackers
• As a spread on a thin slice of cooked potato, with sour cream
• Potato slices can also be added to a blin with caviar, cream, and a touch of herbs
• Salmon roe is commonly used as an ingredient in sushi and other Japanese dishes
• Salmon roe also pairs well with cream cheese or crème fraiche

Less traditional but a tasty alternative to the usual caviar hors d’oeuvre, a dollop of caviar can be served atop a deviled egg. Some American party planners also enjoy a casual twist to the caviar appetizer, serving kettle-cooked potato chips with a dollop of sour cream topped with an American caviar.

Martha Stewart recommends caviar with oyster stew, folded with mushrooms and shallots inside crisp phyllo dough, with quail eggs, atop poached oysters with a puree of spinach and Pernod liquor (a kind of twist on the traditional oysters Rockefeller), or stirred into an herbed dip and served beside root vegetable chips. The American poet Sylvia Plath was said to be fond of spreading her caviar on slices of chicken.

When looking to buy caviar online for your next party or event, don’t forget about Caviar Emporium. Our knowledgeable, reputable company has everything you need to enjoy your gourmet caviar experience. Caviar products from Caviar Emporium are sure to please everyone from the pickiest purist to the most adventurous foodie.